Houston Christian University Athletics

Southland Conference Tournament
Championship Game • May 23, 2015
Constellation Field • Sugar Land, Texas

HBU Senior Pitcher Curtis Jones
“To tell you the truth, I was feeling the pressure going into this one, after three really good complete games. I came out here with confidence and competed within the strike zone, just trying to stay low in the zone and get all of my offspeed pitches working. The defense helped me out a lot, making plays behind me, just trying to throw strikes and make them put the ball in play, because I know I have the best defense behind me. I don’t know what I would do without Samm (Wiggins) back there, Samm is just one heck of a player, he’s something else, and it’s been an honor to have him as my catcher and I love him to death.”
 
“That (six-run rally) was huge, I think it all came with two outs. We just had timely hitting, we’ve had it all tournament, just great execution and Greg (Espinosa) came up with a huge hit. It just all built up from there.”
 
“It feels awesome (to be named MVP and go to a regional), I’ve worked hard since day one just to come out here and do the best for my team.”
 
HBU Junior Second Baseman Greg Espinosa
“I saw that he was throwing gas, hitting 93-94, so I just told myself, ‘he’s not going to beat me with a fastball, he’s not going to beat me with a fastball’ and sure enough, he threw the first one down the middle and I hammered it to right field. I told a few of the guys that when I was rounding second, I couldn’t feel my body, just sliding into third with the crowd going crazy was one of the greatest experiences.”
 
“I’m just trying to do it for my guys, they’ve been picking me up all year, so just to come up clutch in a big tournament, I’m happy with that. The defense was amazing, we worked so hard on defense. Just coming in here and playing great defense, I’m just proud of my boys – it was amazing.”
 
HBU Head Coach Jared Moon
“You can’t even describe it – you get four complete ballgames in the tournament, the stars just line up for you. That game right there was a great ballgame. We kept hitting the ball hard all night, right at somebody, the wind held a few up. I thought their guy did an outstanding job in pressure situations, we were able to steal some bags, but I told the guys late in the ballgame, he was starting to elevate pitches. Fortunately, for us, we came up with the two-out rally and it’s huge.”
 
“Going through the (NCAA) transition, you never realize that this is in the future. It was tough, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, but to be where we’re at…I said it at our golf tournament last year, we’ve won every conference we’ve ever been in and it was only a matter of time before we won this one. How about that? We did it. This is probably the greatest win of my career right now and hopefully there’s more conference championships to come.”
 
“The defense was outstanding, with Samm, Espinosa, and Zach doubling the guy off at first, that’s what you have to do in championship ballgames. Pitching and defense was why we won this tournament, we able to scratch a few runs across when we needed them. Tonight was the best night we had – in one inning.”
 
“When they made the pitching change, I told Greg with runners on first and second, just nice and easy, punch something through there. I don’t know if he was beat or if he drove the ball that way, but I thought the rightfielder diving for that play, if he stayed up, he might have thrown Samm out, but I’m glad he dove.”